The video of Mitt Romney deriding the 47 % of Americans `` who are dependent upon government '' re-ignited a debate about social class in America this week , exactly one year after the Occupy Wall Street movement first took to the streets to protest rising inequality . At a $ 50,000-a-plate fundraiser , Romney scoffed at that 47 % `` who pay no income tax '' and `` believe they are victims . ''

Romney 's comments bothered many Americans because he seemed to be attacking some of the most vulnerable members of our society . Aside from whether they actually `` believe they are victims , '' research has consistently shown that people lower on the social totem pole suffer significantly worse mental and physical health than those better off , including higher rates of heart disease , depression , suicide , several forms of cancer and death .

Yet a new line of psychological research suggests there 's another victim of inequality : the rich themselves . In fact , Romney 's comments could make him the poster child for this research .

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In a series of studies , researchers have found that attaining high social status impairs key social and emotional skills .

For instance , a 2010 study published in Psychological Science found that people of higher socioeconomic status were worse at reading other people 's emotions , a skill known as `` empathic accuracy , '' a basic part of empathy . In a follow-up experiment , the researchers -- including Dacher Keltner , my colleague at UC Berkeley 's Greater Good Science Center -- made people feel higher or lower on the social ladder . Regardless of their actual socioeconomic status , people temporarily made to feel upper class had a harder time reading other people 's emotions ; people made to feel lower class showed better empathy .

This suggests that there 's something about the experience of high status that hurts our ability to connect with others emotionally . Other studies have suggested that high status makes people less compassionate , less generous and less interested in connecting with others in general .

Here 's why the people at that $ 50,000-a-plate dinner should care about this research : The skills that seem to be impaired by elevated status are the same skills that research has strongly linked to leading a happy , meaningful life . So as the super rich in this country assume an ever-loftier status above the 47 % -LRB- or the 99 % -RRB- , they risk depleting their own reserves of happiness .

`` Being compassionate , having empathic accuracy , being trusting and cooperative -- these are keys to social connection and , in turn , happiness , '' says UC Berkeley post-doctoral researcher Paul Piff , the lead author of a study that found that people of higher socioeconomic status were less willing to share money with a stranger or make charitable donations . -LRB- However , when they were made to feel lower status , they became more generous ; the opposite was true for people made to feel high status -- they became stingier . -RRB-

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Indeed , perhaps the dominant finding to emerge from positive psychology research over the past decade is that our happiness -LRB- and health -RRB- is largely determined by the quality and quantity of our social connections . Perhaps that 's why `` pro-social '' behaviors and emotions -- compassion , empathy , altruism -- have been so strongly linked to happiness .

Consider : Research by Sonja Lyubomirsky , a leading happiness researcher , has consistently found that people report feeling happier after doing nice things for others . Several neuroscience studies have found that giving to others activates pleasure regions of the brain . Research by psychologists Lara Aknin and Elizabeth Dunn has even suggested that spending money on others makes you happier than spending on yourself . And a Canadian study published last year , led by Myriam Mongrain , found that after people supported others compassionately for just five to 15 minutes every day for a week , the compassionate people reported significant gains in happiness and self-esteem six months later .

These findings suggest an explanation for why , once Americans attain an annual income of $ 75,000 , more money does n't seem to bring more happiness : Beyond that point , perhaps our elevated sense of status brings with it the harmful social and emotional effects that undercut the joys of more money .

Sure enough , one recent study found that people who were wealthier , or were just temporarily made to feel wealthier , were worse at savoring everyday pleasures , a key to happiness , according to prior research .

The research linking wealth and empathy certainly suggests one reason why Romney has seemed to demonstrate callousness and trouble connecting with voters on the campaign trail , with his comments about the 47 % being just the latest example . In light of this research , the video of Romney carries another troubling implication : that inequality may be self-perpetuating , making the rich less likely to feel compassion for the poor , thereby increasing the economic gap between them .

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But we probably do n't need to read too much research to appreciate how this empathy gap is bad for Romney 's happiness . Just look at a new Pew Research Center poll , which shows that he trails President Obama by 8 percentage points , and 43 points in the area of `` connects well with ordinary Americans . ''

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Jason Marsh : Romney 47 % comment bothered many as attack on most vulnerable

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But , he says , research shows wealthy like Romney have impaired social emotional skills

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More money linked to less generosity , empathy , few social connections , less happiness

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Marsh : Inequality may be self-perpetuating ; rich less likely to feel compassion for poor